Halloween is over, but for some those lingering images of spiders, snakes, clowns and other frightful events are with them throughout the year.
Fear is no laughing matter for those who suffer from the most severe form of fear, a phobia. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, 6.3 Million Americans have a diagnosed phobia.
A certain amount of fear is normal and natural, a healthy warning signal that some things in the world represent danger. But when that fear becomes intense and irrational and causes you to change your lifestyle and to restrict your activities in a way that imprisons you, you have a phobia.
To date there are 530 classified phobias http://phobialist.com Generally they fall into the following categories.
Categories of Phobias:
Animals: Fear of dogs, cats, snakes, rats, dogs, mice, or other animals.
Environmental: Fear of heights, fire, storms, water, aging, or other natural phenomena.
Medical-Blood-Injection-Injury: Fear of throwing up, contamination, seeing blood, needles and similar phenomena.
Situational: Fear of closed spaces, of the dark, of going to the dentist, social phobias or other situations.
Other: Fear of the number thirteen, fear of clowns or mimes, fear of loud noises and other phenomena.
Top Phobias – Percent of US Population
1 Fear of public speaking – Glossophobia – 74%
2 Fear of death – Necrophobia – 68%
3 Fear of spiders – Arachnophobia – 30.5%
4 Fear of darkness – Achluophobia, Scotophobia or Myctophobia – 11%
5 Fear of heights – Acrophobia – 10%
6 Fear of people or social situations – Sociophobia – 7.9%
7 Fear of flying – Aerophobia – 6.5 %
8 Fear of confined spaces – Claustrophobia – 2.5%
9 Fear of open spaces – Agoraphobia – 2.2 %
10 Fear of thunder and lightning – Brontophobia – 2%
Phobias are generally created in a single, one time “learning event” that is stored in the unconscious mind where it repeats like a broken record. In hypnosis we use this natural learning process to unlearn the phobia just as quickly and powerfully as it was created.
We can easily, effortlessly and permanently remove that fear successfully in just a few sessions allowing you to live with freedom, no longer planning your life around that fear.
If you or someone you care about suffers from an irrational fear or phobia, encourage them to seek help and reclaim their life. There are many alternative resources without the side effects of medication available to eliminate that phobia. You can also contact us at Integrity Coaching & Training Systems. We are happy to help. Contact us at patricia@integritylifecoach.com
